Ideas, resources, book reviews, and discussions especially for independent School Librarians.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

To the Fans of My Library's Facebook Page

Please, don't become a Fan! I hope you are not offended, but try to understand, it's not that I don't like you...

Late last year I was thrilled when my school library's Facebook page had a record 70 fans. When I went to see who those fans were, I was met with a lot of unfamiliar faces. Yes, there were about 30 current students, some faculty and staff, and even lots of alumni. But there were many people who I am assuming are librarians. If you are one of them, I am sorry to tell you that I "removed" you from my fan base.
Yes, it was nice to be part of the library Facebook community. And yes, I do want lots of fans, but I want fans from my school community. I want my students to browse the fans and see their friends, teachers, and siblings, not a bunch of ladies (mostly) from around the world that they do not know! I think they might be more likely to become a fan if they see their community in the library's virtual space. I want to encourage informative conversations and publicity for our school library programs, books, and research projects. Maybe when I have 200 or so fans, a couple dozen librarians will be fine. But for now, it just doesn't suit the purpose of the page.
Does your school library have a Facebook page? Have you looked through the fans to see who your online community is? Do you want fans from outside your community? I am working on getting more student fans - any ideas on how to spread the word?

2 comments:

We advertised our university library's Facebook page by chalking up the pavement outside the library branches and writing notes about it on library whiteboards. Perhaps write notes in a corner of some classroom whiteboards where friendly teachers might leave them unerased?

About Me

I am the Head Librarian at Brentwood School, East Campus, the 7-12 grade campus of a K-12 co-ed independent school in Los Angeles. The views and opinions expressed on my blog are my own and not necessarily of my employer. Archipelago is a personal blog.

Why Archipelago?

An archipelago is a group of many islands. The independent school community is like an archipelago in that we are separate, and yet we are similar. We have our own libraries which are unique to our schools and independent from one another. We meet together, learn from each other, have associations and publications; we are like islands, and yet we form a group. I am proud to be a part of an amazing group of librarians. Through AISL and ALA ISS, and through local groups like Southern California's Independent School Library Exchange (ISLE), I learn, collaborate, share, and make friendships.